Warning Bells
by TheCaptainSideways
Summary: When Black Jack is invited to the unveiling of the Ministry of Science's unveiling of their new nanobots, things start to go south.
1. Departure and Arrival

Chapter one (beta read by Ami on 3/4)

It was becoming increasingly difficult to go anywhere without hearing about it.

In newspapers,

On the radio,

Television,

Over the phone.

In fact, I have been invited to the unveiling by at least thirteen people.

I turned them all down saying that I had patients on that day (a lie of course), but no matter what I do the thought has already been planted. I'm starting to think that it's no use to try to resist my curiosity.

America had recently made a giant leap in medicinal technologies, they claimed that their new technology could cure any ailment faster and more efficiently than humans could.

They had created the first generation of medicinal nano bots, along with the world's finest processor to control them.

Once the nano bots were injected into a patient their first job was to diagnose the problem. To do this, they would race around the bloodstream a few times and transmit millions of bytes of data back to the processor core. Then the core would translate this data and match it with existing medical conditions. Once it found the problem it would either take care of it itself by stimulating the brain to make the appropriate antibodies, or ask that the patient be operated on with human assistance.

The nano bots would oversee rehabilitation as well and transmit the information to the core for human observation. Once the patient was declared cured, the nano bots would exit through the urinary system and deactivate.

Supposedly, these things were so easy to manufacture that it wasn't that big of a deal to throw them away after they had been used. Not to mention that it was more sterile to get rid of them.

I must admit that my curiosity is going to get the better of me.

In the end my curiosity indeed won that short lived battle.

Pinoco and I bought the tickets to fly to Chicago in the coming week.

The unveiling was set to happen in a month, but those attending were asked to come early to tour and test out the other medical equipment that was going to be available to the general public at a later time.

Meanwhile, we busied ourselves with house cleaning, packing, canceling, and trying to find some place for Largo to stay for a while. While Largo is a fabulous dog in every way and everyone loves her so very much, in the end I was forced to buy another ticket for her.

I kind of saw it coming and had already bought the cage.

Just to ensure Largo's transition from house to Chicago went as easy as possible I decided to sedate her for the thirteen hour trip. This is not an easy task as she is quite the intelligent pup and had predicted that I had already loaded up the syringe when Largo in all her glory went barreling out the front door. While on her run she nearly flattened Pinoco who at the time was just trying to "cawwy thehse howwible shiutcashes" out of the house.

The amount of sedative I had put in that syringe had been enough to put out a horse's light for a few hours. It doesn't sound that impressive from that perspective but let me assure you that it is no small amount.

The whole ordeal went down like this:

I was going to sedate Largo whether she wanted it or not. If I didn't, I might not be allowed to fly with her because of her hellish howling and barking.

I ran after her, syringe in my hand with Largo just inches in front of me, when Pinoco appeared into sight carrying at least three suitcases. Neither me nor Largo could stop ourselves in time to save all of us from the collision.

Pinoco's suitcases were full of snacks and gaudy dresses, and her gaudy clothes usually had enough fabric to make me a few bedazzled dress shirts and pants to match. Up in the air they went, all huge, glittery six of them. In the sparkling confusion, I stabbed the syringe into what was closest to me.

This happened to be Pinoco.

She pretty much dropped to the ground in an instant.

Awesome, so now I had an assistant that couldn't stand and a nervous dog to load in a stupid cage.

"Largo, I swear that if your mouth makes so much as a peep I will throw you out of the plane!" I didn't have any sedative left, so a threat was best I could do.

Me and Pinoco had a seat crammed in the back, with our luggage rattling above us. Largo's cage had been carried away, so that was the last of that dog I would see in a while.

The flight was relaxing, but I couldn't sleep.

It took a little while to empty the plane. It's a tad unpleasant when you are trying to carry a little girl and two backpacks, a purse, and two suitcases at the same time.

After a little while of wandering around the air port, I was able to find a cart thing and our taxi. The taxi driver was a woman, so I loaded the luggage in myself and strapped Pinoco into the seat next to me. After getting settled, I tried to watch the American scenery go past, but the woman was driving to fast to see anything.

"So where you from?"

"Japan."

"That must have been a fun ride."

"Yes."

"So what's your daughter's name?"

Oh come on, I do not look that old.

"Pinoco."

"Your girl stay home?"

Yeah, you could say that. Then again the only person who could loosely be considered my "girl" can not legally be considered a woman anymore, oh and all the other ones really were not my type.

"I'm don't have one."

"Scandalous, so who got the furniture?"

Somebody kill me.


	2. Mister Felix Johnson

I have a few morning rituals that make it easier to do what I do.

'Don't worry, his heart exploded but it's all just a part of science!'

'It's no big deal, she just ran into a wall and cracked her skull open. It could happen to anyone!'

'A disease that eats you from the inside? Pfft. Whatever!'

'Self-surgery? Who cares!"

Gross.

I'm a doctor and that's gross.

Well look who's ready to seize the day.

I surrendered my warm niche in the covers to go get ready. Pinoco was sound asleep but fine otherwise and Largo was nowhere to be seen.

I slowly made my way over to the balcony and stepped outside. Almost immediately I shivered from the chill, it was also snowing lightly.

It doesn't take me long to get dressed in the morning. The only real challenge is ting the bow sometimes. It's like I just forget how to tie ribbons.

I set my black case down on the bed and pulled out the schedule for the unveilings. I don't think there's anything going on today, but it can't hurt to check.

According to the schedule, the unveiling started out with a tour of the facility that began tomorrow at noon and ended at nine. Then, on Sunday, started the three hour presentations of one invention every day for three weeks. But the nano bot presentation would last for a whole day and occurred three days after all of the smaller unveilings were finished. Sounds busy.

I was right, I do have today off.

Maybe I should visit Felix, he doesn't live that far from here.

The hardest part about getting to Felix's house was getting a taxi. There are hundreds of these things out there, but none when you want one. After a few hours of hit and miss hailing, someone was kind enough to show me the nearest train station. It wasn't much better though because the train was packed, and I am seriously starting to question the hygiene of some of those people.

Felix is weird, always has been. When I got on the street I knew immediately which house was his. The house was covered in fire engine red paneling and shaped like a hollowed out prism. In the empty center, he parked his yellow, rusty car. I started to walk around his house to find the door, if I remember correctly it's on the side here.

Found it, turned out his door was in the shape of a fish and by some miracle, blended in with the fruit graffiti and drawings of facial hair.

I knocked a few times before Felix came to the door. While his messy brown hair and kicked puppy look hadn't changed, his new sense of style had. In fact, he was completely naked except for a knit zebra hat and a beat up banjo.

"Well it's nice to see you too Felix."

"Sorry bro, totally wasn't expecting visitors today! Give me a second and I'm a slip into my poncho. Come on in dude! Beer's in the icebox." I stepped inside and took a survey of the house's interior.

Broken musical instruments hung from the ceiling and wall in little clumps of strings and wood. Chinchillas ran around everywhere, and all of the walls had holes in them and the whole place smelled like smoke.

I looked for a place to sit, but it's sort of hard to make out anything because what's not covered in staff paper is covered in a broken instrument. Wait, I think that's a couch. I scanned it just to make sure I wouldn't sit on anything unexpected. I certainly did not expect to see a broken crowbar.

"Felix, what is this?" I held up the mangled crowbar.

"I had some trouble peeling my morning oranges for my orange juice."

Some things never change.

I stayed at Felix's house almost all day, we just sat around, talked, drank. He played some of his new music a bit but he's afraid of the aliens hearing and stealing his musical ideas.

It felt like old times. When he was just writing music for the local gigs on the side of his engineering job, and I was staying at his place to treat his sister. She had a problem with her liver, it was an easy diagnosis. So I spent the rest of my time with Felix. He taught me the basics of piano and music theory as payment for her treatment. As he taught me we slowly became friends.

Felix's sister got better and moved on in her life. That is putting it nicely. She was a total brat and walked out second she got better.

Though his hurt, Felix became blessed with the curse of genius. He started writing music like a madman.. He listened to it, wrote it, played it and he figured out what worked and what doesn't.

This showed with everything he wrote. He knew exactly what went where and why. Other musicians didn't take Felix seriously; he couldn't tell you the names of each note or pick out the styles of other composers. He only knew how to make good music.

We drank and he told me how his sister was doing now (was getting married to her fifth, having her seventh child), I told him about how my piano practicing had been going. He told me about the trips he'd been on recently. Then, he brought IT up.

"Hey! Do you like chinchillas?"

"Felix, I don't want your chinchillas."

"But I have so many!"

"I should be leaving now. Goodbye Felix."

"Farewell!"

Felix rule number nine: don't take his chinchillas. In fact, get away when he says chinchillas because Felix likes chinchillas and he will seriously give you at least three (in the past I have put these chinchillas to good use by testing antibodies and performing autopsies on them).

I started to walk out of his house when he ran to the door and grabbed my shoulder; my hand was already on the knob.

"Don't leave yet, you have the 'I didn't come here for beer' vibe."

"A little late but yes, I did not come here for your alcohol. Do you know anything about nano bots?"

"So that's why your here. The ministry of science's new invention?"

"Is there anything I'm missing?"

"I'd say there's something we're all missing."

He dropped something into my pocket.

"But I wouldn't know anything about that."

I smiled,

"Of course not. Have a nice evening Felix."

Felix is blessed with the curse of genius.


	3. The Ministry of Science

The next morning I was woken up by a voice I hadn't heard in a while.

"Get up." She sounds mad.

If I pretend I don't hear her will she go away?

"DON'T IGNORWE ME!" she was prepared for this move and poured water all over my head. In one swift maneuver I jumped out of bed, went the bathroom, and locked the door.

"Calm down!"

"I WILL NOT CALM DOWN!" She started to pound on the door as hard as she could until the hinges started rattling. Medical Note: large amounts of sedative injected into small people can cause post slumber rage.

"Pinoco, it was an accident! I meant to sedate largo!" maybe she'll listen to reason?...

"LIESH." no such luck.

"Well I wanted to buy you that one thing. But, I guess that won't be able too because I'll be stuck in the bathroom all day..."

"What was that?"

Bingo.

After that I was able to calm her fairly easily after a promise to go and actually get her something (she insisted it be edible).

We were on our way to the ministry of science within the hour. There was a heavy amount of traffic on the road so I was able see some of the sights (Although I don't know if taxi covered streets really counts as 'sights'). Pinoco was also looking out the windows in fascination of the colorful lights and such the whole time. Lucky for me, we had a new taxi driver and thankfully he knew how to be quiet. It was a pleasant ride indeed.

"What a weird woad name. Wippy."

I looked over though her window and indeed saw a road named Rippy. Abandoned house after abandoned house lined the street's edges; each one decorated with wire fences and boarded windows.

"A cweepy name like Wippy suits it."

The ministry of science had a very humble appearance. It was just a large, concrete, building that stretched far back complete with several windows and a door. There was no way you would notice if it were not for the masses of people pushing and shoving their way through a rather small entrance. I was little concerned that Pinoco might be trampled on in this. She thought so to, because she held onto my hand a little tighter when she saw all of the people who were people who were struggling to find a way in. They started pushing even more violently when an announcement came on saying that the tour would begin in fifteen minutes. In hopes that maybe the crowd would thin out, I stayed patient. Soon it was ten, five, two, one minute with minimal progress.

A tour was certainly not worth an injury. So I started to lead her back to the car when someone tapped my back.

I turned around to see a young man dressed in a dark blue suit with a mess of black, curly hair on his head.

"I know another way in! Care to come?" I didn't see any harm in coming, so I told him sure. He led me to the side of the building and through a side door.

The lobby itself was a boring, grey room filled with rows of equally boring, of what appeared to be plain black office chairs. A large, grey stage stood in the front with a podium on it and what appeared to be several screens dangling from the ceiling. I turned to thank the man, but he disappeared.

I found a pair of seats in the back and sat down. A few moments later the lights dimmed out and a woman appeared on the stage. Although I couldn't make out her face from this distance something about her seemed familiar.

"I would like to thank you all for coming here today! The ministry of science gives a warm welcome to you all! I'm C-1 here to guide your tour this afternoon. Please buckle the seat belts on your chairs at this time."

Seat belts? I felt around the chair until my hands brushed against a strap. I pulled it up and sure enough, it was the buckle to the belt. But why would we need seat belts? Despite my curiosity I followed her instructions regardless. Pinoco looked a little suspicious when she picked up the strap.

"I see that we are all ready now, let's begin!"

The chair started hum and sake violently before it left the ground and started to float in the direction of the guide, a blue light glowed brightly underneath it.

"Acchonburike!"

Pinoco was not the only one who was surprised. Many of the others had started whispering among each other as we were led to our first stop.

We were all brought into a room filled with wires and rows of tall, glowing towers and all of our chairs set itself down on the ground. The whispers died down as C-1 began to speak.

"This is our mainframe. It has three hundred and twenty eight of these computers and its source of energy is what's left over after smashing atoms at nearly the speed of light. The mainframe is connected to all of our desktops and laptops wirelessly. Next we will be heading to our main labs."

The chairs started to hum and shake a little less than the first time before floating. Like ducks, we followed C-1

The lab was immaculate, the glass white walls practically sparkled and several in-wall displays showed pictures of random diagrams. People in pristine white lab coats were typing on computers and talking to one another in hushed words.

"This is our head lab; it's run by Doctor Michael and his assistants. This lab is equipped with lasers, the most advanced computers available, and holographic assistants when needed. A word sir?"

A lanky man with thick, white framed glasses walked up to the microphone with a goofy grin on his face.

"Hello~! Thanks again for coming guys and gals! I'm Doctor Michael and this is our fundamental research lab! We make cool stuff here like the hover chairs you're on, and the hologram that's guiding your tour today! Through technology, I see the future. A world where all we have to do is enjoy ourselves. So we are excited to announce our newest innovations that will be available to the public!" after some applause Doctor Michael waved at us before returning to a computer station.

We were then taken to a long, curving hallway with a chunk of the wall replaced with what appeared to be black glass. In seconds, a bright, white flash of light erupted from the window and blacked out again.

"This is the source of power for our laboratories, the atom smasher. While witnessing an actual atom collision is not possible due to safety reasons, we have placed a camera inside the machine to recreate it in holograms."

C-1 led us to the lobby again.

"And that concludes our tour ladies and gentlemen!"

The hover chairs came to a stop and the seat belts popped off automatically.

"That was! It's like a good sci-fi flick but ish nawt! It was WEAL." The belts popped off and we were guided to the exit via normal glowing signs.


	4. To Be Frozen

I wonder who would scream if I set the garden on fire.

I wonder who would get in trouble if I stole some medicine.

I wonder how many people have birds in their homes right now.

I wonder why I had to live, and not her.

I wonder a lot of things now. I'm really not allowed to do anything else. If I move, I hurt. Besides, they put bandages all over me, so I can't realistically sit up and look out the window either. I keep my eyes closed most of the time because it hurts to look at anything. I only see Mom, and while the images of the explosion have only begun to fade from the inside of my eyelids, it still haunts my dreams.

I can hear just fine though so I listen to everything.

I listen to the nurse's gossip, and I listen to the doctors whisper things about their patients to each other, to the sounds of the assistants replacing the bed sheets, and I listen to the teary reunions of people who were near separated from their loved ones. I should be sad at the fact that the only one who would cry tears of joy at my survival is dead. But I'm not, I only feel the overwhelming grief that weights my chest and makes it so hard to breathe sometimes. I think of it as a tear in my soul where a black hole has formed. It sucks in all light that life may have to offer me. Only a few shards of my fragmented self keep it from swallowing me.

But my useless father probably doesn't even care that the only woman who ever loved him unconditionally is now six feet under. Her last words, "Let's forgive your father." What a joke, like I could ever forgive that awful man.

The days are useless. The amount of time I've been here is forever, and every second just reminds me how much longer I'll have to say.

I started to listen into the nurses again when they started to whispering in worried voices. Cindy is worried about someone who has just pulled up in a official looking car, officially and Carlene is worried about what the person plans to do once they enter.

When the person in question entered, the first thing I noticed was her heels. I couldn't see them but their distinct click was new to me. It was an extremely sharp click, unlike the typical social worker that visits me with their dull clicks. When she strolled into my room I didn't turn to face her.

"Are you Kuro'o Hazama?" She said, in a firm voice.

"Yeah." I said in the most uninterested tone I could fake.

"I'm Alice, your only living relative."

I wanted to say, 'You sure? Because pretty sure that my only living relative is at his mansion in the U.S. making love to his new wife.'

"If we're related, why does your name sound English?"

"Because the people who know my real name, wish they hadn't asked."

That's a little frightening.

"What do you want?"

"I want your permission to adopt you. You can come and live with me when you get on crutches, but I warn you. Going into the foster system will be much easier on you."

Here she was, this 'Alice' offering me a place to stay.

Offering, what a strange word. Nobody offers me anything anymore. I either must or I can't. She seems dangerous though, I don't know if I would be safe with her. Not to mention that she won't let me move in until I can use crutches and that may be a while.

I turned to look at her. Long, black hair fell past her back and she wore a black skirt and a button up top with a coat over it, hands gripped tightly on a thin brown briefcase. Her cold eyes stared right back at me. I couldn't stop myself from drowning their red depths.

"Yes." the answer slipped out in a moment of weakness. I wanted to swear at how she had caught me so easily.

She hugged me; she dropped her briefcase and hugged me. For a few precious seconds, it felt like mom was there again. I could feel the warmth of her skin even through my bandages. The weight lifted itself off my chest and the black hole had frozen in its vacuum.

It was those precious seconds and the burning desire to get revenge that kept the black hole inside my soul from devouring me.


	5. A little piece of peace

He had just stopped walking and stood there, not even blinking.

"Doc? Doc! Hellooooo~?"

I started to pull on his pant leg to get his attention because people started to stare at him. I tried my hardest to glare at the stupid few who dared stare at my husband. He's not Frankenstein and Dracula's man baby for crying out loud! I started to tug on his pant leg harder until he finally looked at me.

"Doc?"

"Let's get back to the hotel."

"Hey doc, are you okay?"

"I'm fine."

Ugh, he's being weird again. I hate it when he does this, I can see there's something wrong but he won't tell me! How am I supposed to help him feel better if I don't know what's wrong?

"Pwease tell me what's wrong."

"It's nothing."

"Bullcwap. I know when somefing's wrong becawse I'm your wife! Now tell me!"

"Do you like amusement parks?"

"Yeah!"

"Okay, what's your favorite rides?"

Wait, he distracted me!

"I hate it when you do this to me!"

He didn't answer and we rode back in silence.

Getting to the hotel didn't help much. Now it was silent, but in a bigger space. I was took off my jacket and boots and left to go check the fridge. Thanks to the Doc being cheap again, there was nothing in there. Wait, this could be my ticket out. I quickly put my jack and boots on again. I gathered some money and put it in my purse before I opened the door.

"I'm going shopping." I told him as I began to leave.

"Okay."

Not even a bye? Or a "I love you," "be safe," or in the very least, "don't talk to strangers?" Just what am I to this guy? Never mind him, its shopping time. I slammed the door on my way out just to show him that I'm mad in case he's stupid enough not to see it already.

By the time I had snapped out of it, I was already half a block from the hotel! Or I think that's how far it is, I really don't know because I can't see it anymore. Oh no, I should call him...

NO. I WON'T GIVE IN.

I'll go shopping first, that's what I'm here to do anyway.

On my way to a grocer, a cute little restaurant came into view. I could see the happy families dining inside. Laughter plastered was plastered to their faces complemented by a warm golden glow. I smiled at the sight and took a picture. Maybe me and Doc can go there sometime (if the people inside don't think I'm creepy for taking pictures of them).

Bad Pinoco! Bad, bad, bad, bad! We're mad at him, remember?

I quickly turned away from the place and started looking for a grocery shop. It didn't take long for me to find a Target, I got my stuff and left as fast as I could. I wanted to be able to find my back to hotel before it got to dark. After a few more useless minutes of wandering I decided to ask for directions. I was cold hungry and the snow had started to melt in my coat making it miserably damp inside.

Then I saw the the same man who had helped us inside the science place! I quickly walked over to him and tugged his shirt.

"Hi! Thanks for today, can I ask you for some directions?"

When he looked down I couldn't help but swoon a bit. I hadn't gotten a great look at his face the first time but now I could see he was actually pretty handsome. He had curly black hair and a pale face. His green eyes almost glowed in the dark and his suit was a navy blue with dark grey pinstripes.

"To where?"

"Uh, sowwy, to the mercuwy motel."

"Here, I'll walk you down there."

"Thanks Mishter!"

"Call me Raven, here's my card. Call me if you need help with something okay?" he handed me a black business card with the word "spectrum" at the top. After that it said his number and email.

"Sure! Nice to meet you Waven, I'm Pinoco!"

Doc doesn't know it, but sometimes I like to watch him sleep. The stress of his work completely fades and his expression is soft. He's so peaceful. It makes me wonder what he dreams about.

I glad that he doesn't come in and check on me anymore. I don't want him to see what the nightmares do to me. I don't even want to know. Every night they haunt me.

I dream of him dying. It's always the same death, same cause, same place.

It starts out that me and him are are in the middle of a normal operation. He asks for a clamp and I give him one. He asks about vitals and I tell him. Then things start to go wrong. The patient, who's skull is cut open, hops off the table. The patient's eyes are closed but he has no trouble reaching for the gauze and stuffing it down Black Jack's throat. Black Jack does nothing to defend himself. And I find myself paralyzed, his esophagus is so clogged when the paient disappears that he doesn't even choke. He just falls to the ground.

I race over to try to save him, pulling the gauze out of his mouth and pounding on his chest the way he taught me to, but it doesn't work.

I woke up in absolute terror and clamped my hand over my mouth so that I wouldn't scream so loud. I sat there for a second before tearing off the sheets and going over to Black Jack's bed. I climbed on it as gently as I could and set my head on his chest. After a few seconds of lying there, I could hear his heartbeat clearly. After that I went back to my bed to sleep, and I didn't dream about that for the rest of the night.


	6. Robots?

79987 Rippy road was the address scribbled on the envelope. I figure that if Felix put someone else's address on it that I was to deliver it so I refused open it. In almost no time I found myself in front of the house. A rusted chain link fence surrounded it, rotted boards littered the overgrown lawn, the windows were covered with black tarp.

Against my better judgment, I hopped over the fence and knocked on the door. I guess knocking on the door is sort of useless but if someone is inside then they might answer.

To no surprise, nobody answered. I guess I'll just have to let myself in. The house smelled of burnt plastic and ramen inside. It was dark and humid, and the furniture was covered in dusty white sheets. I was begging to lift off one of the covers off of the coffee table when I heard a voice.

"You know, it's rude to enter people's houses uninvited." she said.

I could hear her clearly yet when I turned around, no one was there.

"I have a letter for you."

"Give it." She said bluntly. Oh look, she's so polite.

I could hear she was behind me again, this time she was sitting on the couch. Her hair was a color I can only describe as mahogany. It was tied up in a ponytail that fell down her back. Her green eyes almost glowed in contrast with her large pupils.

Without hesitation I handed her the letter. She grabbed it from me and tore it open with a bored look on her face. Once she started to read the letter's content though, her expression quickly changed.

"Well Black Jack, consider yourself a robot now."

She led me over to a crack in the floor and hooked her fingers underneath it. A few seconds later she lifted it up to reveal a long set of stairs.

"What do you mean by robot?"

"Yep. The robots have been in high demand ever since the ministry of science announced the nanobots."

As interesting as these facts are, I still don't know why Felix sent me here. The girls name turned out to be Catharine Wells, a who specializes in electronics. Human robots, to be specific.

"I have to get some measurements so if you could strip down and step on the scanner there that would be fabulous."

"Wait, I didn't agree to this."

"I have all the documents and about two million in cash right here, so not only have you agreed but you've paid in full."

I stunned silent, what could a robot offer that Felix wanted me to have so badly?

"What do people use these robots for?"

"Prostitution. No STDs and no babies." Catharine said as she hooked some wires up to a computer.

"Anything else?"

"Investigations. I make robots so realistic that the criminals think that a super human's after them."

There we go.

After that I took off my coat and vest , and asked her what to do.

Catharine took a look at me and said, "Only keep the underwear son." before she went back to a desk in the corner of the room. Hesitantly, I complied.

Now clad in nothing but my She pointed at a weird mat and told me to stand on it, a few seconds later the mat started to glow a green color and make ticking sounds. Little metal arms drawled out of the sides and started to shine little red grids all over my body.

Catharine was typing like a madwoman on her computer in the corner as the little arms worked, this lasted for about five minutes and then they stopped glowing and retracted back into the mat.

"Well that's it. You can leave now." She unhooked her computer and walked back up the stairs. I quietly got dressed and left the house.


End file.
